


to thrive

by Murf1307



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Couches, Developing Relationship, Holding Hands, Hugs, Kissing, Krakoa Fic, M/M, Resurrection, Romantic Fluff, Second Chances, Starting Over
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:07:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22452391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murf1307/pseuds/Murf1307
Summary: Darwin attends Gabriel's resurrection, and from there, they pick up the pieces and begin to build something new.
Relationships: Armando Muñoz/Gabriel Summers
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	to thrive

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically going to get rendered non-canon tomorrow, but, like, I found out Darwin was coming back and basically Needed to write this. 
> 
> Also, since Gabriel and Darwin don't know Moira is a mutant, they're grieving her as though she's human, in case that bit comes off as confusing otherwise.
> 
> Also also, contains references to Gabriel/Deathbird, because I love my space wife, and references to an unnamed Alex pairing (insert your preferred one, but I wrote it with James Proudstar in mind, because I'm gay).

He's barely been on Krakoa for three days when Alex Summers approaches him, looking like he's got bad news.

To be fair, Darwin knows the guy has a history of _being_ bad news, so he figures some of it must've just stuck to him. Maybe it's a Summers thing, to be the bearer of bad news, or to be that news.

"Hey, Darwin," Alex says. "How're you settling in?"

"I'm adapting," he says, archly. "At least the place isn't trying to murder me this time, so that's a plus. I got a place not too far from the Carousel, near Jamie and Layla."

Alex nods. "Good, good. Uh, so, I wanted to let you know, you know that resurrection protocol, right? With the Five?"

He nods, too. He's heard about it. Dead mutants, brought back like it's nothing.

"Well, we're...we're bringing my brother back today."

Gabriel. _Shit._

Alex bites his lip. "Yeah. I kinda had that reaction at first, too." He takes a deep breath. "Charles says he won't remember, though, anything he did after you guys got blasted into space. So. He might not remember how pissed he was at Charles."

That feels too good to be true. Darwin remembers the anger that coursed through Gabriel, while they were sharing a body, before Rachel Grey tore him loose and he had to pull himself back together. 

It seems impossible he could get the Gabriel he _remembers_ back.

"So, um. If you wanna be there when they wake him up, we should probably go to the Cradle now." Alex seems a little unsure, and Darwin gets why.

Alex fought a _war_ against his brother, after all.

"Yeah, I should be there," he says, eventually. "If Scott's not gonna be there, and he doesn't remember, then he won't know any of the rest of you."

Alex nods. "Scott, uh, Scott's working on building the biome on the Moon."

"Fair enough."

They set off for the Cradle. After a little while, Darwin exhales. "You didn't know him, before. Before everything that happened." Before Xavier sent them into a death trap. _This_ death trap.

"What's he like?" Alex looks at him, looking a little like he's never wanted to know anything more.

Darwin rolls his shoulders. "He talks really formally. He learned English from a book of Roman mythology and some aliens, after all. It's...kind of poetic. You get used to it, after a while."

Alex nods. "Makes sense."

"He liked cooking. He burned basically everything, but he liked it, so we let him." He swallows. The memories are ones he hasn't thought about in years. He never grieved any of them, not really. He just adapted to their absences. "Moira said she was gonna look into getting him lessons, once we came back."

"Oh," Alex says, quietly. "Shit, he doesn't know she's dead, either."

"And she's not coming back." Because Moira was human. She'd taken them in, and helped them, made a _home_ for them.

And then Xavier came and ripped it all apart.

"I'll tell him." It should be him. "Is — is it gonna be a while, before we get Petra and Sway back?"

"You'll have to ask Hope or one of the others," Alex says, voice a little softer. "But they're getting through a lot of people every day, now. I'd guess they'll be back soon."

Darwin nods. "Okay. Good."

They're coming up on the Cradle, now, and Darwin can feel it _pulsing_ with life. That's an after-effect of having stolen Hela's powers a while back; he's not sure he wants that particular thing to ever fade.

They descend into the roots of a tree, and find Charles Xavier and a girl in green, her red hair messy over her shoulders. She looks familiar, but in a distant sort of way.

"That's Hope. She's, uh, she's Scott's granddaughter. Did some Phoenix stuff a couple years ago." 

Darwin appreciates the comment, nodding, but his eyes have zeroed in on the egg they're closest to. He can see, through its gold translucence, the shape of a young man, curled in the fetal position.

That'll be Gabriel, then. 

"It's good you came," Charles says, and as much as Darwin _wants_ to take the warmth in his voice at face value, he's had too much time to think about what Charles did to really, honestly feel that way.

"Don't want him to wake up alone," Darwin replies. "He won't recognize you, and it's not like he knows Alex or Hope."

Hope smiles a little. "Wouldn't be the first time, with the Summers family."

"Hey, kid," Alex warns, "you _shot_ Scott last year, you don't get to joke about weird family dynamics yet."

Darwin doesn't think he's _ever_ going to understand the Summers family.

"If he wants his eye back, all he has to do is die," Hope points out.

"That's macabre," Charles interjects.

Darwin takes a deep breath. "Well. We gonna wake up Gabriel, now? Or is this the Summers Family Goth Hour?"

Alex laughs, and sounds surprised to be laughing.

Hope smirks. "Yeah, sure." She pulls a knife from her belt and steps over toward the egg. Her hands are steady, and the cut she makes in the eggshell and membrane is deep and precise, pulling all the way down. Clearly, she knew her way around a blade even before she started doing this.

Amniotic fluid spills out of the gash she made, and the egg starts to lose structural integrity.

The body inside shifts, then coughs, then starts breathing, blinking, and its eyes glow in an all-too-familiar way.

Charles steps in, catching Gabriel's chin. He doesn't say anything, but something shifts, something _changes_ , and Gabriel blinks again, frowning as he starts to realize that he isn't somewhere familiar.

"Welcome back, Gabriel Summers."

"Where am I? Who are — Darwin, what's going on?" He looks down. "And why, by all the gods, am I _nude?!_ "

Darwin smiles the biggest smile he's done in years. "It's, uh, it's a long story. Short version: Krakoa, uh, the mission didn't go so good."

"So I died?" He frowns. "This does not seem like much of an afterlife."

"No, uh, you're alive now." Darwin laughs a little. "Like I said, it's a long story. Not really a nice one, either, but...if you get some clothes on, we could go back to my place, and I'll tell you about it."

"We have clothes," Hope says. "Hi, Gabriel. I'm Scott's granddaughter, Hope."

" _How long have I been dead_?!"

Alex laughs, that time, and Darwin can see the relief suffusing him. "Not that long. She's a time traveller, or, she grew up with one."

"And you are?"

"I'm your other brother, Alex. Scott's, uh, on the moon right now."

Gabriel nods. "One of the ones we were sent in to rescue. Did you make it off of the island, at least?"

"It's complicated."

Charles interjects, then. "I think perhaps you should get dressed."

"...Wait, you are Professor X, are you not?" Gabriel stares at him. "You can walk again?"

Charles nods. "Yes. It's good to see you again, Gabriel."

"What about Petra and Suzanne?"

Hope pushes a towel at Gabriel. "I don't know exactly what the schedule is, but we should be resurrecting them soon, if all goes well."

Gabriel takes it with a haughty, embarrassed sniff and wraps it around himself. "All right."

"Well, the clothes are on that ledge, and the Professor and I have a couple more families to reunite today, so we should be going." Hope slips her knife back into her waistband. "And Alex, tell Scott that I'll come up to the house when it's done, but I'm not moving in. It's too weird."

"Fair enough." Alex nods. "Go on, then, Darwin and I'll show Gabriel the ropes."

Charles smiles another of his enigmatic smiles, and he and Hope proceed deeper into the Cradle.

When they're gone, Gabriel starts drying himself off in earnest, which draws attention to how naked he is. "So," Gabriel says, "why is Hope so against living with the rest of the family?"

"Okay, I can field this one," Alex says. "So, after Krakoa went tits up for you guys, we were eventually rescued. Things were okay for a while, and then Jean died. Scott left the team for a while, to grieve her. He went up to our grandparents' place in Alaska, and met this woman, Maddy, and fell in love with her."

"Understood." 

"They got married, and had a kid, Nathan. Then Scott and Maddy's relationship kinda fell apart, and there were a couple of kidnappings, and Jean came back from the dead. Everything got _really_ fucked up, Maddy turned me into a slutty Halloween decoration, and then she died, but since she was a clone of Jean, some wild shit happened and Jean got a bunch of her memories."

Gabriel blinks. "This sounds like a long story. Where does the time travel come in?"

"Nathan got really really sick. He was about three." Alex takes a breath. "It was slowly turning him into metal. And then we met this nun from the future. She said her order could save him. So, without any other options, Scott and Jean sent Nathan away with her."

"And then he came back as an adult with a daughter?" Gabriel finishes drying off and finally puts on some underwear.

"Not...exactly." Alex pauses for a moment, clearly trying to condense the last few years into as brief a summary as possible. "He came back as a middle-aged soldier from a future where the world was ruled by a villain called Apocalypse. No time to explain him, you'll figure it out eventually. But Nathan, now calling himself Cable, started doing some heroics and merc work in our present, and I _guess_ other places in the timestream?"

Gabriel is mostly dressed. "And his daughter?"

"Uh...kidnapped. It's complicated. Possibly a virgin birth? But yeah, Cable pulled her out of the rubble of a hospital and took her back into the future with him." Alex takes another deep breath. "And, long story short, last year, a teenaged version of Nathan showed up and murdered the Cable we all knew, so…"

"So Hope is upset that her father was killed by...her father, but before he could have raised her. That does sound potentially stressful." Gabriel is fully dressed, now. "I imagine Nathan lives with Scott and Jean, now?"

"Uh-huh. And, uh, we will be too, when the house is built. On the moon." Alex sounds like he's exhausted, already.

"In the meantime," Darwin interjects, "you can stay with me. I've got a little house not too far from here."

"And where _is_ here, exactly?" Gabriel raises an eyebrow. “I suppose I can presume we’re _not_ on the moon, then, since that’s where the house is?”

Alex nods. “Yeah, uh, not on the moon.”

“We’re...on Krakoa,” Darwin says, carefully. “It’s, uh, not going to try and kill us anymore.”

Gabriel’s expression sobers a little. “I suppose it makes sense to come back here, if this is where we died.” 

“It’s not...it’s not exactly like that.” They start moving toward the doorway out into the rest of Krakoa, and Darwin continues. “Petra and Suzanne died on Krakoa. You and I didn’t. We survived, just barely, fused together.”

“How did I die, then?” Gabriel sounds genuinely curious.

Alex bites his lip. “It, uh, it’s kind of a long story. You two got blasted into space, and then got hit with a massive burst of radiation.”

“You were...really angry, at Xavier, for sending us into that situation.” Darwin reaches out, squeezing Gabriel’s shoulder to ground him. “You did some really bad stuff. Killed some people.”

“Married Charles’s ex-wife’s sister,” Alex interjects. “ _That_ was a trip.”

Darwin nods. “Yeah. You kind of...took over the Shi’Ar Empire.”

Gabriel stops dead in his tracks. “...Did I kill D’Ken?”

“Yeah. At your wedding.” Darwin takes a deep breath. “And then Lilandra and the X-Men crashed it to rescue me and Charles.”

“Rescue you from...my wedding?”

Darwin nods again. “Yeah. You kinda...imprisoned me for trying to rescue Charles, who you were gonna murder.”

“...I really must have hated Charles, it seems.” Right now, though, he just sounds hurt.

Alex moves a little closer. “It was really bad. But...you don’t remember any of that stuff. So...it’s kind of like who you are right now isn’t really...responsible, for it?” He takes a breath. “Anyway, that’s how I’m seeing it. That version of you fought a war against Lilandra, and then a war against the Inhumans, and died fighting Black Bolt.”

“Did I win?”

“Not really.”

“Damn it.”

Darwin squeezes Gabriel’s shoulder again. “Either way, you’re back now. You can...have a second chance, you know? Live the life we could’ve lived, if what happened hadn’t.”

Gabriel lifts his hand and presses it against Darwin’s. “Yes. Yes, I think I’ll do that.”

Alex coughs a little, drawing their attention. “Yeah, so, aside from all the stuff you didn’t know you did before you died, the basic stuff you need to know is that mutants have a nation now, and that nation is Krakoa. Charles probably set you up to speak Krakoan when he popped your memories back in, so—“ he shifts into speaking Krakoan, “— _if you can still understand me, you’re good._ ”

“I...can?” Gabriel sounds a little befuddled. “Almost...better than my English?”

“Any mutant, when they come to Krakoa for the first time, a telepath downloads the language into their brain.” Alex smiles a little. “Things are...things are finally pretty good for us.”

“Good.” Gabriel gives his brother a small smile of his own. “...I imagine you have other things to do?”

Alex shifts a little. “I, uh, I was gonna meet up with a friend, but it’s cool if you guys…”

“Nah, we’ll be fine,” Darwin assures him. It sounds like Alex is going to meet up with a little more than just a _friend_ , from the light blush on his cheeks. “I’ll just bring him back to my place, make sure he eats, y’know.”

“I’m newly resurrected, not your new pet cat,” Gabriel says, bristling a little.

Darwin laughs. “I know. I just...y’know. It’s been a while.” 

“I’m gonna head out,” Alex interjects, and then makes himself scarce so fast Darwin wonders if he had a teleporter waiting in the wings. 

“Do you know who my brother is dating?” Gabriel asks, as soon as Alex is gone.

“Not a clue.” Darwin shrugs. “I’m not really...I’m not really that close with anybody, to know who people are dating.”

Gabriel nods. "Fair enough, I suppose." He pauses. "Now, where do you live?"

Darwin smiles a little. "It's not far. About a mile or so away from here, so maybe a ten minute walk?"

"All right." 

They set off, and they're both quiet for a long moment, before Gabriel asks, "So, how long _have_ I been dead?"

"About five years." 

"...have you been alone, all that time?" Gabriel asks, and there's something aching in it that Darwin doesn't want to think about.

He shakes his head. "Not all of it. I had a team for a while. Then I went off on my own." He should try to talk to some of them, probably. "Wandered around for a while. Became a Death God for a little."

"At least you had some excitement," Gabriel points out, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

Darwin smiles back, feeling more at ease, now that they're not talking about the stuff Gabriel did before he died. "Guess I did. But I think some rest'll do me some good."

They reach his place right about then, nestled in the root system of a grove of trees. “Here it is,” he says. “I liked the trees, and Krakoa was down to kind of...grow me a house. Didn’t need much direction.” He’s not sure how to explain the Krakoan sentience to Gabriel, the relationship the island has to mutantkind, now. He’s not sure he understands it, either. “I only got here about three days ago.”

“Well, then,” Gabriel says, “I suppose it’s good that I haven’t missed _that_ much.” His smile has turned a little more teasing. “Show me the inside?”

Darwin leads him in. It’s not a big house, more like a studio apartment than anything else; the furniture is mostly living wood provided by Krakoa, barring a couch he bought off Mutants Unmuted, and he supposes that’s where Gabriel’s gonna sleep, now.

“It’s nice,” Gabriel says. “Homey.”

Darwin chuckles. “Thanks. I’d...I’d want you to feel at home, here.”

 _With me_ goes unsaid. Because shit, somewhere deep, he’s _missed_ Gabriel, more than he knows how to put into words.

Gabriel reaches out and takes his hand, squeezing it. “I do. With you here, I do.”

Darwin’s heart twists in his chest, and he squeezes back. “Good. I...I didn’t want you to wake up alone, y’know? Even taking everything else into account, I couldn’t do that to you.”

“I’m sorry,” Gabriel says, honestly. “I don’t remember what I did, but I’m sorry you were hurt by it. I never wanted that. Not for you.”

“You’d kinda lost it,” Darwin admits, leading Gabriel to the couch and sitting down. “When we woke up, in space, you were just so _angry_. Because you blamed Xavier for what happened to us and the girls.”

Gabriel nods. “That makes sense.”

“So, you took us back to earth. I was only half conscious, bonded to your nervous system, and we’d absorbed some of Petra and Sway’s powers because of me. You kidnapped Alex, and Scott’s daughter, Rachel, and used a jet plane to kill Banshee, to try and pull Xavier out into the open.”

Gabriel’s hand tightens on Darwin’s. “I imagine it worked?”

“Yeah. You, uh, you explained why you wanted to kill him, and it turns out…” God, this is gonna be the part Gabriel’s _really_ gonna hate. “...It turns out Xavier made Scott forget about us.”

“...What.” And there it is, the rage, as Gabriel goes utterly still. “He made Scott _forget_?”

Darwin nods, squeezing harder, trying to ground Gabriel in the here-and-now. “Uh-huh. Because Scott would’ve broken down, if he knew you were dead.”

He doesn’t know if that’s true; he doesn’t know Scott well enough. But it’s the explanation Xavier gave.

“I think I understand why I wanted to kill him,” Gabriel says, carefully, and he’s watching Darwin with an expression Darwin can’t quite read. “I...imagine I wasn’t in the best mental state even _before_ I found that out, from what you’ve told me.”

“Yeah.” Darwin takes a breath. “Rachel pulled me out of you, and I’m not sure what happened next. Just that you wound up blasting off into space to try and kill D’Ken.”

Gabriel nods. “I always wanted that vengeance,” he says, softly. “My mother deserved none of what he tried to do to her.”

Darwin nods, too. “Yeah. We, uh, we wound up following you, after I got solid again. It seemed like a bad idea to just let you go off on your own, when you were such a threat to other people.”

“I understand.” Gabriel shifts a little closer. “I suppose that’s when I met my wife?”

“Mhm. I don’t know the specifics. But you married Cal’syee Neramani, the oldest sibling of the Shi’Ar royal family, after you broke her out of jail.” He shrugs a little. “And then you kidnapped Xavier, and I was the only one in a position to try and rescue him, but I failed.”

“So I made you attend my wedding?” Gabriel sounds a little hung up on this part.

Darwin nods again. “You really wanted me there, I guess. But I think you were gonna kill me afterward, I’m not sure.”

Gabriel makes a noise, halfway between disgust and dismay; his other hand clasps Darwin’s arm even has he keeps holding Darwin’s hand like he’s been doing. “I don’t like who I became, I don’t think.”

“I didn’t like you much, either, right then,” Darwin says, his own free hand landing softly on Gabriel’s on his arm. “But it doesn’t matter now.”

It’s true. He has the Gabriel _he_ knew, back again after so long. Untouched by the things he did, able to start over. It feels like a miracle, and Darwin feels like maybe _this_ is one of the things he survives for.

“What happened next?” Gabriel asks, like he’s a little worried about the answer.

“Well, D’Ken officiated yours and Cal’syee’s wedding. As soon as the ceremony was over, you killed him right then and there and named yourself Emperor.” He shrugs a little. “I found out later that you could do that, because you’d been born on Chandilar, and you’d married into the royal family by marrying Cal’syee.”

Gabriel nods. “Yes. I would’ve known that.” He sounds a little sad, though. “Do you...do you know if I loved her?”

Darwin doesn’t. “I hope you did.” He wants to believe Gabriel must have. He feels everything so _big_ , and Darwin doesn’t think he could’ve married someone just for political gain.

“I hope so, too,” Gabriel says, softly. “Is she still alive?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really...keep up...with Shi’Ar politics.” He rolls his shoulders. “All I know is that I went back to earth after Xavier and I got rescued at your wedding, and Alex and his girlfriend at the time, Lorna, stayed in space to fight a civil war against you, since Lilandra, Cal’syee’s sister and Xavier’s ex-wife, wanted to save the empire from you and Cal’syee’s rule.”

Gabriel frowns again, clearly trying to wrap his head around that. “But Alex still came to my resurrection?”

Darwin nods. “Yeah. It, uh, sounded like a lot of weird violence goes on in your family, anyway.” He smiles a little. “Apparently, your grand-niece shot out one of Scott’s eyes last year, or something.”

That makes Gabriel’s eyebrows shoot up almost to his hairline. “I must say, I did not expect that of either of them.”

“Yeah, it was weird,” Darwin says, chuckling. “But Alex and Hope were kinda joking about it, so I think...I think forgiveness is kinda the watchword, now.”

Gabriel nods. “I...I suppose I should be grateful, for that.” The hand clasping Darwin’s arm gentles a little, thumb rubbing circles against Darwin’s sleeve. “If that means I could maybe...start again. Get to know my family.”

“You should,” Darwin says, gently. “I think they’d want to know you like I used to, not how they did, the first time.”

“Thank you.” Gabriel looks down at their arms and hands. “For all of this.”

Darwin shifts a little, and tugs Gabriel into an embrace. “I missed you, y’know.” Beyond the instinct to adapt, the self-protection of not thinking about the dead if he could avoid it, the feeling had lived. He’s aware of it now, because Gabriel’s back. Gabriel’s _home._

Gabriel holds him tightly. “I would have missed you, too.” He sounds more sure of that than he has of anything else so far.

It makes Darwin’s heart ache a little.

When he retreats from the hug, Gabriel’s hand slides down to take his own again. “When Petra and Suzanne get back,” Gabriel says, “We should...I don’t know what we should do. But we should do _something._ ”

Darwin nods. “Yeah. Maybe, uh.” He takes a breath. “Moira, uh, Moira died.” He squeezes Gabriel’s hand again. “Before we came back. Maybe, when the girls come back...we should go visit where they buried her?”

Gabriel nods, closing his eyes. “Yes. We should do that.” 

Moira’s the only decent mother-figure Darwin ever had, after all. He’s been to her grave a few times, over the years, especially after he became a Death God, and he thinks the others would want that closure, too.

“She’d be glad to know we’re all together again,” Darwin says, softly. “I know she would.”

“She would.” Gabriel’s sure of that, too. “She’d know we miss her.”

Darwin rubs the back of Gabriel’s hand with his thumb. “Yeah. She would.”

It’s strange, all this time since he’s come back to Earth, and it’s only now, sitting here with Gabriel, that he can feel the grief.

 _You’re safe, now_ , maybe that’s what his mutation is saying. _Grief can’t kill you anymore._

He just hopes that’s true.

* * *

Gabriel does sleep on the couch that night, but he wakes up gasping and whimpering about halfway through.

The nightmare had been about his mother, about Moira, about everything they’ve lost. He doesn’t know what his wife looks like, but she’d been in the dream, too, resplendent and feathered -- because a Shi’Ar empress could _only_ be both those things -- and he imagines their wedding.

What has him waking up, though is the idea of trying to kill Darwin.

He cannot _imagine_ what could make him want to do that. How lost in his revenge he must have been to try and kill his best friend.

He sits up on the couch, and buries his face in his hands.

There is _so much_ to think about. Five years. He’s been dead for _five years._ And before that, he’d been missing and presumed dead for another good five. 

Scott has two children, at least, and a granddaughter who shot him in the head. Darwin became a god of Death, but otherwise won’t really talk about how he spent the last five years. Alex fought a war against him, but has forgiven him enough to be there when he came back.

He has a _wife_ , and he doesn’t even know if she’s alive, or who he could ask to find out.

He looks across the house. Darwin seems to be asleep, behind the partition that hides the bed from the remainder of the house. Darwin opened his home to him, after everything. Darwin _missed_ him, even after the things he did. 

It feels too miraculous to be true. But then, so had discovering he had a family.

He just hopes that this miracle is something he gets to keep.

Because he will fight for it, if he has to.

He gets up and goes to the kitchen. He doesn’t quite know how anything works, because it’s full of plants and plant-like appendages that are clearly supposed to be appliances, but he can’t tell _what_ the appliances are supposed to be.

He opens what he thinks, correctly, is a refrigerator, and finds a glass pitcher of what’s probably orange juice, so he pours himself a glass.

Drinking it slowly, he thinks.

* * *

In the morning, Darwin wakes up to find Gabriel struggling with the kitchen appliances. He leans his shoulder against the partition, grinning a little, and waits for Gabriel to notice him watching.

It doesn’t take long. “I can hear you breathing,” Gabriel says.

“Good morning to you, too,” Darwin says, chuckling. “Having a little trouble with the stuff?”

“I wanted to surprise you with breakfast,” Gabriel admits. He turns, finds Darwin’s eyes. “To thank you for letting me stay.”

Darwin pushes off the partition. “You don’t need to thank me for that,” he says, quietly. “But I appreciate that you wanted to.” He moves toward Gabriel, not sure what to do when he gets there.

Gabriel shifts towards him, just a little. “I don’t know what things are going to be like, now,” he says, quiet as well. “Given everything that’s happened.”

“I want you to stay,” Darwin says. “If that’s what you want. You — you coming back, it’s...it’s a lot, for me, too. But I want you to stay.” He remembers the cold wall of the prison cell, the colder metal of the shackles — the bright colors of Deathbird’s plumage and the way _Emperor Vulcan_ had smirked — he remembers all of it perfectly.

But he doesn’t want any of it to matter anymore. Not when Gabriel’s here again, in his space, in a place he’d never expected to ever go again.

“Okay,” Gabriel says, and he reaches out, touching Darwin’s cheek. “Then I’ll stay.”

Darwin’s hand comes up to cover Gabriel’s, to lace their fingers together. This isn’t quite how they ever were, before, but something has shifted since Gabriel came back, and opened up the tightly-closed parts of him in doing so. 

“I had a nightmare, last night,” Gabriel says, moving a little closer still. “I don’t remember my wedding, but I dreamed about it.”

“I’m sorry,” Darwin says, not sure what else he _can_ say.

Gabriel shakes his head. “The worst part was trying to imagine myself killing you.” 

The admission is striking in a way Darwin doesn’t really expect. He wraps his arms around Gabriel again, trying to remind him with his body that all of that is over now. He survives, he’s always _survived_ , but more than that, this is the part where they get to start over, get to try again.

“I promise you,” Gabriel says, whispers really, against the skin of Darwin’s neck, “I will _never_ harm you again. Not willingly.”

Darwin believes him, and holds him tighter. “I know. We’re past all that now.”

“I still needed to say it.” Gabriel presses closer, somehow, his own arms tight around Darwin in turn. “I need you to know that I mean it. That I will be _thinking about that_ , about the things I’ve done. If it ever comes down to getting what I want or keeping you from harm...I will choose you. I promise you that.”

Tears well up in Darwin’s eyes at that confession. No one has ever said anything like that, to him — and the fact that it’s Gabriel just makes it _more_ , somehow. Gabriel is, after all, the only person from whom those words could _matter._

“Thank you,” he says, softly, wishing he had more that he could say.

But Gabriel’s driven every word out of his head, with this, and all Darwin can do is thank him, and keep holding on.

* * *

It’s not much longer after that morning that Gabriel realizes what all of this has meant. 

He has a phone, now, a gift from Scott, with the family’s phone numbers programmed in, and so he gets messages, sometimes, from his brothers. His niece and nephew haven’t reached out, but Gabriel’s aware that his last interaction with Rachel was...pretty bad, and he’s never _met_ Nathan, so he isn’t surprised.

Anyway, he gets a message one morning, from Alex:

_Scott says the house is almost done. Should be able to move in by the end of the week._

The house on the moon. Summer House, Scott had called it, the last time they’d spoken. It had been Jean’s idea, after she’d conferred with Xavier about some of his plans, and each member of their family will have a bedroom in it.

But part of Gabriel doesn’t want to leave Darwin’s couch. He’s on it right now, and glances over the back to watch Darwin as he makes lunch. 

He wants to stay, he thinks, his eyes sliding over the slope of Darwin’s shoulder, the lean lines of his arm as he slices sandwiches. He doesn’t want to give this up. Not so soon after he’s gotten it back.

Gabriel...Gabriel _loves him_ too much for that.

The realization unfolds like the petals of a flower, and grows in his chest like one of those Gates people use to come to Krakoa, if they haven’t been reborn here.

He loves Darwin. In precisely the same way he hopes he once loved his wife.

Blinking, he looks away, back toward his phone.

_Will we be expected to stay, all the time?_

It’s easier to write it in Krakoan than English, and the phone’s keyboard obliges him. 

Another message, from Alex:

_Dude, if you want to stay with Darwin, that’s okay. Like, hell, Scott DEFINITELY has a room with Emma Frost, I’m not expecting him to be there all the time, and he BUILT the fucking house._

Gabriel isn’t always able to gauge Alex’s tone, especially over text, but he _thinks_ Alex is trying to be supportive.

_I don’t want to upset Scott, if he’s expecting me._

He doesn’t know a lot, yet, about the things that have happened since he came to Krakoa the first time, but he knows enough to know that Scott has lost enough. He wants his brothers to be happy, especially given the things _he did_ to them in the past

_You can invite Darwin up for dinner, y’know. Maybe have him stay the night with you, for a change?_

There’s an implication, there, Gabriel is at least sure of _that._

_Have you invited YOUR friend?_

Silence for a very long moment, and then:

_No. But, like. It’s...not like that? I don’t think?_

_What do YOU think ‘it’ is?_

He can hear Darwin placing the plates and glasses down on the kitchen table. He probably should stop, before Alex says something that makes him flush.

_You and Darwin are...y’know. An item?_

_We are not._

He puts his phone in his pocket and sits up again, wishing that telling the truth didn’t feel so much like a lie.

* * *

Something’s up with Gabriel, and obviously, Darwin can tell.

He’s not saying what it is, and anybody who hadn’t shared a body with him, much less anyone who didn’t know him, probably wouldn’t be able to tell _anything_ was wrong, but Darwin has, and Darwin can.

He’s just not sure what to do about it.

They’ve only been reunited a couple of weeks, and Darwin heard from Terry, who heard from Jamie, who heard from Alex, that the Summer House is almost done. 

Darwin doesn’t like to think about Gabriel moving out, but the guy definitely deserves more than a couch, so Darwin can’t really justify stopping him. He just, sort of...wishes it would take a little longer.

At least long enough for him to figure out what’s up with Gabriel, y’know?

Right now, they’re at one of those parties at the Carousel. A lot of the teenagers and college-age kids show up to these, and Darwin likes to hear the music and the laughter and feel the pulse of everyone not just surviving, but _thriving_ , for once.

For once.

Gabriel’s sprawled out on a flat-topped rock, and yeah, he does just look every inch a Caesar, broad-shouldered and a little judgmental as he watches everyone dancing around a bonfire.

Darwin would feel a little more uneasy about that parallel, but, deep in his guts, he _believes_ what Gabriel promised him.

Gabriel will never be a threat to him again. Gabriel wants to put his well-being ahead of any vengeance there might be on offer, further on down the line. Bad guys, after all, don’t tend to stay dead, any more than X-Men do.

Gabriel looks at him, then, catches him staring, and smiles. It’s a melting sort of smile, and he looks so _sweet_ with it on his face.

Darwin can’t help but smile back, grateful that he’s not capable of blushing.

That’s another thing that’s kind of got him a little off-center: he’s starting to realize that yeah, he’s got feelings about Gabriel. Feelings like _that_.

“Would you like to dance?” Gabriel asks, his smile pulling into the tiniest bit of a smirk.

“I don’t know, do you want to?” Maybe it’s the coward’s move, but Darwin’s not going to be the one who overreaches, not for this. He cares too much, wants too badly to keep what they have to bet it all on a dance.

Gabriel shifts a little more upright, moving a bit more into Darwin’s space, where’s he’s sitting next to him. “I don’t know if I’ve ever danced like they’re dancing.”

“It can’t be that hard.” Darwin squeezes Gabriel’s shoulder. “If you wanna dance…”

Gabriel flushes. “Would you dance with me, if I asked you to?”

There’s something tense in Gabriel’s posture, now, like he’s expecting rejection. It occurs to Darwin, for a moment, that he knows Gabriel better than Gabriel knows him, on account of the time they spent joined, the time Gabriel doesn’t remember.

“Of course,” Darwin murmurs, his hand sliding down from Gabriel’s shoulder, to his hand. Gabriel runs hot -- he’s pretty sure that’s a Summers thing -- and his hand is warm in Darwin’s.

Gabriel looks down at their joined hands. “Then...I would like to dance.”

Darwin stands up, tugging Gabriel to his feet, too. “Then we can dance.” He slips his free arm, carefully, around Gabriel’s waist. “This okay?”

“Yes,” Gabriel says, almost too fast -- like if he doesn’t say it fast enough, Darwin will assume he doesn’t mean it. It makes something warm in Darwin’s chest, and he pulls Gabriel just a little closer.

Gabriel blushes, just a little more, and together, they start to sway along to the music, just a little bit.

It’s not a song Darwin knows, and he can’t quite hear the lyrics unless he tries, but it’s definitely not really a slow-dance number. The drums are pulling something a lot wilder out of everyone around the fire, but it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter, because Gabriel is watching him with his glowing eyes, and their bodies are moving together, slow and sweet.

Darwin’s mouth gets a little dry, because he’s starting to think something might just _happen._

Is that why Gabriel’s been off, these last couple of days?

Gabriel’s arm is around his neck, and Darwin wonders if maybe, just maybe, he ought to do something more definitive. Something he can’t come back from.

There are so few of those things, anymore.

He guides Gabriel’s hand up to his shoulder and leaves it there, moving his newly-free hand to Gabriel’s waist. He doesn’t really know if he should _say_ something.

It turns out he doesn’t have to; Gabriel slides his other arm around Darwin’s neck, and there the two of them are, swaying out of time with the music, at the edges of the Carousel, and there really isn’t anything they _need_ to say.

Gabriel swallows, leaning his forehead delicately against Darwin’s. “Is this all right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it is.”

Gabriel closes his eyes and swallows again. “I don’t really want to leave you here, when my brother says the house is ready.”

“I don’t really want you to go, either,” Darwin admits. “I only just got you back, you know?”

Gabriel’s eyelids flutter a little, light from his eyes gilding his lashes and the skin of his cheeks. “Maybe, then...you could come with me? I know you have a home, but…”

“Talk to your brothers about it,” Darwin murmurs, rubbing a soothing circle in Gabriel’s side with his thumb. “See what Scott’s prepared for.” 

“Okay,” Gabriel says, softly. “I can’t stay away from you, though. Whatever happens.”

Darwin holds him a little tighter. “I don’t think I could stay away from you, either.” He should just say it, just tell Gabriel how he feels. Gabriel wouldn’t be talking like this, they wouldn’t be so wrapped up in each other, if there wasn’t a pretty strong chance that Gabriel feels about him the way he feels about Gabriel.

But it’s hard, so hard, to make that final leap.

“One of your friends, Layla, came by while you were out, today,” Gabriel murmurs. “She said you disappeared for years, and no one heard from you.”

“Won’t happen again, I promise.” He lifts his hand again, tracing Gabriel’s cheek. “I’ve got something to stick around for.”

Gabriel opens his eyes again, looking into Darwin’s. “...Me?” he asks, very softly.

Darwin laughs, smiling. “Yeah. You.”

He’s not expecting Gabriel to be the one to kiss him, but that’s what Gabriel does, pushing forward and pressing their lips together.

It feels _right_. It feels like everything before this was the leadup to this singular moment, and the future it promises. Darwin tightens his arm around Gabriel’s waist and buries his fingers in Gabriel’s hair, wanting Gabriel to be able to tell how much he means what neither of them has said outright just yet.

Gabriel tastes like toothpaste and the roasted vegetables they had for dinner, and his skin is hot everywhere it touches Darwin.

The kiss, in a word, is _perfect._

When Gabriel finally comes up for air, he’s flushed and breathless. “I hoped -- I wasn’t sure --”

“I didn’t really realize it ‘til tonight,” Darwin admits. “But I think I need you. I think I might be falling in love with you.”

Gabriel is stunned for a moment, as if he thought Darwin wouldn’t admit it out loud.

“I...I love you, too. I’m sure of it.” Gabriel bites his lip. “Is that all right with you?”

“Of course.” Darwin leans in and kisses Gabriel, gently. “I want this. I want you. Whatever that winds up meaning, going forward. We’ll figure it out.”

“Adapt to survive?” Gabriel asks, raising his eyebrows. 

Darwin shakes his head. “Y’know that wasn’t the point of Darwin’s theories, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not about surviving, individually.” He smiles. “‘Cuz it’s the things that make an animal _thrive_ that survive in a species. Anybody who tries to make it about surviving is missing the real point.”

Gabriel laughs. “And you would know, would you not?”

“I would. I’ve survived a lot of things, but…” He shrugs a little. “Thriving, I think that’s something I’m gonna have to figure out, now that you’re here.”

“That’s very saccharine of you,” Gabriel retorts, flushing. 

“You can say ‘cheesy,’ like the rest of us, it won’t kill you.” Darwin kisses the corner of Gabriel’s mouth. “Anyway, I mean it. I wanna figure this out with you.”

Gabriel’s smile is one of, if not _the_ most beautiful thing Darwin’s ever seen. “And I, with you.”

When they kiss again, neither of them will be sure who started it.

In the end, though, all that matters is that they do.


End file.
